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MAGNA, Utah – For decades, the Kessler Peak 5th Ward has thrown a party each summer honoring miracles from LDS history. So when his ward council selected for this year’s theme the Miracle of the Gulls, new bishop Dan Leblanc recognized a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity had fallen squarely in his lap.

He would invite a very special group of guests.

The festivities began with the usual burrito and salmon bake potluck, followed by an old fashioned slide show on how great flocks of seagulls had descended upon the Salt Lake valley in 1848 to help rescue the pioneers from millions of Mormon crickets devastating their crops. The junior Primary reenacted the miracle as children in black trash bags ran screaming around dinner tables to escape teachers sporting homemade wings shrieking “kee kee” and “mine!”

Then the lights went low. As puzzled ward members looked about, a sound of synthesizer gull calls began to trickle from the speakers, followed by a low, electric tone.

That’s when Elma Thurwell, 61, stood like a shot. “I thought, no, it couldn’t be. But it was! IT WAS!”

Spotlights flashed past a drawn curtain to reveal what she had rightly guessed: the four members of the British new wave band, A Flock of Seagulls, strutting and gyrating in glory to swelling music on her ward’s very own stage. The cultural hall held its breath a moment, and then erupted in a thunder of cheers.

Lead singer Mike Strong, complete with red leather pants, and wig of his famous back combed V hairdo, greeted the boisterous ovation with a fist pump. “Oi, oi, Kessler Peak 5th! We’re here to celebrate the Miracle of the Gulls! Are you ready to ROCK???”

“I nearly fainted,” said Thurwell. “I’ve loved AFLOS since 1982! I have all five of their records.”

To everyone’s delight, the band played all their greatest hits: “I Ran (So Far Away),” “Telecommunication,” “Space Age Love Song,” and “I Ran (So Far Away).”

The group then surprised the ward with synth pop versions of “Popcorn Popping” and “I Often Go Walking” while the Primary danced on stage. “I thought Bishop was going to die of happiness,” said Thurwell. “He loved it more than the children.”

“It was everything I had hoped for,” gushed Leblanc. “They hypnotized us through. What a way to celebrate a plague!”

When asked if the performance was an appropriate use of tithing funds, the bishop explained, “The ward budget has plenty of extra this year, so why not? But the band was so wonderful; they wouldn’t take a dime. They even brought a bean salad.”

He added, “Heaven saved those early pioneers. What better way to honor their rescue with music from a band named after the miracle itself? Those crickets did run. They ran so far away. But they couldn’t get away.”

Thurwell agrees. “This was the best ward party I’ve ever been to. He’s the bishop. He’s inspired. The mantle has now fallen on him. That much is obvious.”